The above postcard is postmarked Leven 28 August 1912 and was addressed to Mrs William Wallace, 116 Easter Road, Edinburgh. The sender was Maggie of 2 Seagate, Leven and her message was as follows:

Dear Aunt, A little brother arrived here on Monday morning, both mother and baby are keeping well. Maggie 

On the front of the postcard was a faded image taken from the Links at Leven, looking towards Lundin Links and Largo. More interesting is the large "BB" written in blue pencil over the message side of the card.  Was this code for Baby Boy? Could this have been something added by the postal service - an annotation to indicate a special message?  If you know anything of this practice, please comment.

​Postcards specially designed for birth announcements did exist at the time. Some examples are shown below. Most of them consisted of imagery such as cabbage patches, storks and chimneys!
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Who was this "little brother" and who was Maggie?  The birth record below provides the answer. John McLean MacDonald was born at 2 Seagate, Leven on Monday 26 August 1912. His parents were Hector MacDonald, a dock labourer, and Isabella Doig. His elder sister Margaret Balfour MacDonald was born in 1898, so was aged around 14 at the time of his birth. The family (with five children) still lived at 2 Seagate at the time of the 1921 census. Baby John lived to the age of 84, passing away in 1996 in Leven.

The annotated image below picks out some recognisable features from the postcard image:

1. Aithernie House (Old Manor Hotel)
2. Lundin Links Station
3. Elmwood and Ravenswood
4. Lundin Golf Club House
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The name 'The Castle' is an ironic one for this diminutive structure but the name also has some basis, given its elevated position above the beach behind a high wall. It stood alone in its own plot, in contrast to neighbouring terraced dwellings and can be seen in a wider context in the postcard view below (white building to the right). 
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On Monday 17 October 1898 a "terrific gale" hit the east coast of Scotland, resulting in loss of life and property and a string of ship wrecks. The headlines from the Dundee Courier of 19 October above reflect the impact along the Forth and Tay - the coast "strewn with wrecks". It was this storm that brought about the demise of The Castle. A piece from the Leven Advertiser of 20 October sets the scene by describing the inundation of Lower Largo...

"The tide and fierce billows washed the main street, and at the harbour and the Crusoe Hotel the thoroughfare was impassable, the hotel for a time being entirely isolated. Each window had to be boarded up and the door barricaded and made watertight. At Drummochy the sea made a clean sweep over the embankments and menaced the houses, and rising higher than the footbridge, tore up the roadway. Thousands of tons of earth and rock were torn away; right on to the links the face of the shore was almost entirely changed. Largo pier has suffered from many gales but never has it presented such a ruined appearance as today."

The article goes on to mention how many outhouses abutting the beach were damaged and the one property which was completely destroyed...

"This was a dwelling owned by Mr Selkirk, and tenanted by Mrs Cooper. It was undermined and the wall fell in - at present only the gable next to the street is still standing."
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Other houses had tiles stripped off and windows driven in but for this little house the damage was terminal. The photograph below shows how vulnerable the building (and the outhouses close to it) would have been to a raging sea.​

The tenant of the property, Mrs Cooper, was the widow of grocer Thomas Cooper. Thomas Cooper had died earlier in 1898 from meningitis aged 36 years. His widow Helen Cooper (nee Mitchell) carried on running the licensed grocery business at Forthview after his death, and continued to do so after the storm. While she and her children lived above the grocer shop, she perhaps used the destroyed property as a store or sublet it to summer visitors. Helen Cooper went on to die in tragic circumstances five years later, in 1903, aged 33 years. The grocer shop was later run by Peter Scott and then William Gould. The shop can be seen in the postcard view below - between Mrs Davie's shop and the Co-operative. It is now 56 Main Street. Part of the plot where The Castle stood can also be seen below, on the far right foreground. 

The site of The Castle was not rebuilt upon but became the garden of the house on the opposite side of the road. Nowadays it is adorned with the striking 'Malagan' sculpture (2008) and a decorative garden gate - the work of local artist Alan Faulds. On his website, Alan explains that Malagan was inspired by a trip to Lithuania in 2006, in which tall wooden roadside structures named Roofed Poles caught his attention.

Speaking to Fife Today in 2008, Alan explained that “they were sometimes erected to commemorate a particular event...for example, during Soviet control, a deportation of someone to Siberia might result in the erection of a Roofed Pole. Usually it would be swiftly removed by the authorities.” He continued "I wanted to make something that carried that power.”

The finished piece incorporates a variety of influences from Mexican, Hindu, Baltic, Indian and ancient Greek art and the name Malagan relates to sculptures from Papua New Guinea. I wonder what the former tenants of The Castle would make of the creative use of this space today.

Above is a 'then and now' comparison of the west end of Lower Largo's Main Street. In the black and white 1960s view, cars are parked on the left side of the street, leaving the right side clear for pedestrians. Nowadays cars only park on the right and spaces are generally at a premium. Several attics have been converted during the period between the two pictures, with dormer windows added to a few homes. In the middle distance, the height of Alexandra House (where the Rio Cafe was) has increased over time. That extra storey was added in 1965, dating the postcard to before then. The Crusoe Hotel comes into view at the end of the street then and now.

Close inspection of the detail in the distance reveals the 'Wall's' ice-cream sign that hung outside Potter's Newsagent on Defoe Place. There newspapers, groceries and postcards were on sale and there was a Post Office and a public telephone inside. In fact, the early 1960s postcard featured was probably bought from this shop, as the sender was based directly over the street at Edina View (where a cross marks their location). The reverse side of the postcard is shown below. It is stamped 22 August 1967 and was sent to Kent.  An X marks the 'boys bedroom' in the upper flat within Edina View, The message reads:

This is a new card I have got - not great but it shows the back of our house. Weather just grand - only 3 wet days so far. On the beach since 10am this morning except for lunch time at Crusoe. Just off to phone you and it is still glorious. Bob off today, Mr and Mrs L here for 10 days. Love to all, Muriel and gang.

It sounds very much like a holiday maker that is writing but the birth notice below from the Leven Mail in December 1961 suggests that Bob and Muriel were full-time residents of 2 Edina View. 
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Annotated in the image below are Edina View (1), Rock View (2) and Beach House (3). These flats had long been a popular venue for summer visitors, having been built for Andrew Selkirk in phases circa 1890, on the site of some old and run down properties. Lists of summer visitors - like the example further below from 25 August 1898 Leven Advertiser - show their popularity at the time with folks escaping the city for a few weeks. 
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The above pair of images show a 'then and now' comparison of the view from the beach at Lower Largo, up through the Orry towards Goodsir House. The black and white postcard view dates to the 1940s, after the designation of the Orry as a "regulation parking place" by the District Council in 1939. There are only a couple of cars parked there though, in spite of the busyness of the beach. The present day view features far more cars - and dinghies. The Largo Bay Sailing Club building, to the right of Sunnyside, is a later addition. The club was first mooted in 1959. Following a period of fund raising, the club built its permanent club house (pictured below) in 1968. Another noticeable change is the number of attic conversions carried out over the decades, as people seek to maximise their sea views.

In the zoomed in pair of images above, there are three distinct layers of housing. The late Victorian homes, with their bay windows, sit behind the sea wall (Laurel Bank on the left and Sunnyside on the right). They replaced older structures that previously stood on either side of the Orry. Beyond that, in the centre, on the far side of Main Street is the much older Goodsir House, named after its distinguished former owner Dr John Goodsir. Sitting on higher ground beyond that, are the late 1920s dwellings of Durham Terrace. The detail below shows the scene to the east and a beach busy with activity, including an improvised game of cricket.

The scene of an incredibly busy beach in front of Drum Park in this 1930s postcard, exemplifies Largo's popularity as a summer destination during the interwar period. Literally hundreds of people are packed into this small area on a glorious day. Perhaps on this particular day a 'picnic party' had swollen the usual number of summer visitors. In the summer of 1933, for example, there were thirteen large picnic parties officially using the site adjacent to Massney Braes. By the 1936 season, there were bookings for every Saturday.
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Local newspapers of the time noted that this stretch of coast "enjoyed a remarkable measure of popularity". This popularity was nurtured by the newly formed Largo Parish Community Council. Their programme of  foreshore improvements included a "water supply, a convenient fireplace and a comfortable shelter" according to the 23 June 1936 Leven Advertiser piece, below. Other amenities added around this time included public conveniences, a drinking fountain, litter bins and a pitch for mobile refreshment vendors. Twelve new benches were also placed around the district in 1935.
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The 30 July 1935 Leven Advertiser snippet below highlighted how large crowds of day-trippers impacted upon local bus services. It would seem that the concept of queuing was unheard of at the time. Pushing and jostling was the norm - especially at Largo Harbour's bus stop - prompting calls for the supervised introduction of a queuing system!
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Such was the demand for leisure facilities that a longstanding desire for a swimming pool for the Parish was reinvigorated. Soon an engineer was consulted and a scheme devised which readily gathered momentum. The piece below from the 26 March 1935 Leven Advertiser confidently tells of how the scheme was "awaiting the consent of Sir John Gilmour".

A Largo Bay Bathing Pool Association was formed and, on 30 July 1935, a public meeting took place in the Temperance Hall. An update from the scheme's temporary committee was provided, a draft constitution adopted and office bearers appointed along with a management committee. Discussion also took place around the best means of raising the cost of the construction of the pool. Some fundraising activities were proposed along with a plan to encourage subscribers to pledge money for the scheme. However, as matters advanced it became clear that early quotes for the work had been unrealistic. The far higher investment needed to make the pool storm-proof led to the scheme being reluctantly dropped (see 18 February 1936 Dundee Evening Telegraph extract below).

The busy beach scene above has all the hallmarks of an "excursion party". In other words, it looks like a party of day-trippers, enjoying a much-anticipated visit to the beach. The location is the beach at Massney Braes, looking towards Largo Pier. Note the boat masts close to the pier in the background and the salmon stake nets in the sea to the far right. Dressed in their finery, this would have been an important social occasion and a special treat for the group. Their attire may look rather out of place to the modern-day eye, however, it was normal then for ladies to take to the sands in full length skirts and flamboyant hats, while the gents wore three-piece suits with ties. Children were a little less formal. Most boys appear to have on short trousers - perfect for paddling or being buried in sand. The party of at least fifty people included all ages. Close inspection shows a few donkeys are on the beach, giving the youngsters rides along the sand (see detail below). 
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Probably the group would have arrived by train at Lundin Links station and made their way over the iron bridge to the beach at Massney Braes, bringing a picnic with them. This could potentially be a church outing, or perhaps a society of some kind. The example below, mentioned in the 14 June 1906 Leven Advertiser, is of an excursion to Lundin Links by the Markinch Parish Church Sabbath School. Like the group in the photograph, they enjoyed games and races on the sands. In their case a 'special train' was laid on for the occasion, suggesting a sizeable group similar to the one shown. On occasion, a band would accompany these groups on their outing, to provide musical entertainment throughout the day.

Not all visiting groups arrived by train however. The 26 July 1907 East of Fife Record piece below describes how a picnic party a hundred strong from Colinsburgh United Free Church travelled to the seaside at Lundin Links in carts, in "delightful weather". Not all such trips were blessed with favourable weather conditions. Sometimes groups had to retreat into a suitable indoor venue at short notice. However, both the group in the image above, and a similar group shown in a different image below (at the same location but looking west), were fortunate.

The above photograph shows detail from a George Washington Wilson image of the beach at Lundin Links captured in 1899. The houses of Leven Road are in the background, next to Fir Park, and the under-construction Ravenswood and Elmwood is on the right. In the foreground is the beach with the dunes and golf course behind and, perched in a sheltered dip between the dunes, is a row of wooden huts. At the time, these were referred to as 'bathing coaches'. The piece below from 20 January 1909 Leven Advertiser tells of how these came to grief when they were "tossed about in all directions" during a winter storm. 

Bathing coaches or bathing machines were forerunners to beach huts. The concept dates back to the early eighteenth century when it solved the twin issues protecting the modesty of bathers and of getting the sick and infirm into the cold salt water that was deemed to be good for their health. Bathing coaches were basically a wooden hut on wheels - a mobile changing room - pulled between the shore and the sea with the tide, often by a horse. Bathers would pay a hire fee to make use of the facility for the day or part-day.

Largo had long been known as a 'sea-bathing resort' and it would have become apparent during the Victorian era that the provision of bathing coaches was expected by visitors. Summer visitors from Edinburgh would have been familiar with the bathing machines used at Portobello (pictured below, from the Canmore collection). Bathing coaches were also available in larger places within Fife, such as St Andrews and Kirkcaldy. 

At the turn of century, people visited the beach in full formal dress, as the photograph below taken at Massney Braes, with the iron bridge in the background, shows. Ladies wore full-length skirts, blouses and hats, while men donned smart trousers, jackets, shirts and ties. Changing into swimming attire was awkward and time-consuming. Plus, of course, it was widely seen as indecent to undress in the open. 
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The above piece from 9 August 1906 Leven Advertiser mentions both a "bathing shelter" and "bathing coaches". Below is another reference, from 15 July 1908 Leven Advertiser, to both the "coaches and shelters". Both features seem to have proved popular.

Around the time of the First World War, wheeled bathing coaches (examples of which from elsewhere are pictured above) were increasingly replaced with fixed bathing huts. While it was still frowned upon to get changed in the open, it was perhaps more acceptable to make the short dash from shore to sea in your bathing attire. By 1935 there were nearly 20 fixed bathing huts listed on the valuation roll for Largo Parish. These were all at Lundin Links shore, on a site provided by Sir John Gilmour, close to the railway station.

Used for the season rather than for the day, bathing huts became something of a status symbol. Owners of huts at Lundin Links included local well-to-do individuals, including: W. Lindsay Burns who resided at Linburn on Leven Road and was Chairman of  Henry Balfour and Company of Leven; William Moscrip of Duddingston House on Leven Road who was Managing Director of National Steel Foundry Leven Works; and George Victor Donaldson, of Stanely on Leven Road Chairman of James Donaldson and Sons timber merchant.

Many owners of boarding houses and private hotels also kept a bathing hut for the use of their guests. These included Andrew Blyth proprietor of Firpark boarding house, James Peebles Greig of Mount Vernon boarding house, John Balmer at Manderlea and Agnes Watters of Victoria Private Hotel. Above is an advert for Victoria Private Hotel. Note the mention of "private bathing boxes". When Margaret Paxton set up Fife Children's Home at Aithernie House, she also took a bathing hut for the use of her residents. In addition, several individuals from close-by Methil, Buckhaven and Leven, had bathing huts at Lundin Links, just a short train journey away. Below are a few images of local bathing huts over the years.
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It was a great surprise to find the above painting in a Reuse Scotland shop recently. Reuse Scotland facilitates the reuse of materials which might otherwise end up in landfill. Somewhat battered, a little bit grimy and with a scratch down the middle, the painting initially looked like Viewforth (east of the Temple) with its pair of gable ends facing the shore. However, on closer inspection it actually looks more like the postcard scene (below) of the shore at Lower Largo just east of the pier, where "Edina View",  "Rock View" and "Beach House" were built by Andrew Selkirk circa 1890 on the site of the much older properties shown. 

The painting is signed J.M. Dodds. This was ​Jonathan Murray Dodds, the son of a school master, who was born in 1858 in Prestonpans, East Lothian. After moving around Scotland with his father's job, he settled in Edinburgh and married Robina Hunter, daughter of a lemonade manufacturer, in 1877. In 1881 Dodds was described as a 'Commercial Traveller', which was likely supplying artist's materials. By 1891 the family, including six children, were living on Morningside Road in Edinburgh and Jonathan was described as 'Artist (landscape)'. It was probably around this time or slightly earlier that the painting was completed.

This was not the only Fife scene that Dodds captured. The artwork above features old Buckhaven's East Shore. It's a view that at first glance appears similar to the Lower Largo foreshore looking west, however, the photograph below confirms that it is Buckhaven, with its harbour wall in the distance. Dodds seems to have had an interest in traditional coastal activities and industries. Another of his works features Joppa Pans - the site of salt works close to Portobello - see further below.

​Above is a photograph of Lundin Shore taken by keen photographer, Lady Henrietta Gilmour, circa 1900, held by St Andrews University Collections. The image captures the Lundin salmon fishings - one of three such stake net fishing stations in the parish at the time. The other stations were Strathairly and Largo. However, these three were not the only salmon stations located in Largo Bay. To the west, in Scoonie Parish, there was the Leven Station owned by Durie Estate, and beyond that a station in Wemyss Parish. ​To the east in the Parish of Newburn, there were the Balchrystie and Dumbarnie stations. The map below shows the parishes of Scoonie, Largo and Newburn from west to east across Largo Bay. In 1899, there were 26 stake nets in the Firth of Forth as a whole.

Above notice from 4 June 1863 Fife Herald provides an early reference to the Leven Salmon Fishings. It informs people that no fishing was permitted between the mouth of the River Leven and the Lundin March Wall (now known as the Mile Dyke). The Fishings belonged to the Estate of Durie. 
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The detail above from a George Washington Wilson photograph circa 1900 shows the Leven stake nets, with Lundin Links clearly visible in the background. A coble boat can be seen on the shore next to the net structure. Below is another view of the Leven Salmon Fishings. The prominent building, standing alone, is the salmon bothy, built around 1880. Between the bothy and the shore there are nets drying. The stake net structure stretches out into the sea beyond that.

Robert Christie of Durie House owned the fishing station and records from both 1875 and 1885 show that it was leased to Alexander Baird. However, by 1895 lease was with large-scale operator Joseph Johnston and Sons of Montrose, as was the lease for the Wemyss Fishings. Johnston retained the Leven lease until around 1920. Valuation rolls show that the fishing station was unlet across the period 1925 to 1940 (see roll extract further below). The salmon bothy building survived for decades after the demise of the Leven Fishing Station. It had various uses in its later life, including as a base for the swimming club, a public convenience, a lifeguard station and a museum.

Across on the other side of Largo Parish, to the east, Newburn Parish also saw salmon fishing activity. The 3 August 1854 Fife Herald above refers to the letting of Balchrystie Stake Net Salmon Fishing. ​In addition, the 1855 valuation roll shows a salmon fishing associated with Dumbarnie Estate, owned by Charles Halkett Craigie Inglis and leased to George Smith of Johnston's Mill. Smith also leased a salmon fishing further east at Kincraig (in Kilconquhar Parish). George Smith remained the lessee or 'tacksman' until his death in 1874 (see death notice further below from 19 June 1874 East of Fife Record).
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The lease of the salmon fishing at Dumbarnie was given to Largo men James Clark and David Ballingall, following Smith's death. The pair had the Strathairly Fishings lease at the time as well. However, following the deaths of Clark and Ballingall, Andrew Greig Anderson, the Edinburgh fish merchant, took on the salmon stations at Dumbarnie and Balchrystie (as well as the Strathairly station in Largo Parish). This continued until Anderson's death in 1904. By 1905 - Joseph Johnston and Sons took over the running of the Balchrystie and Dumbarnie stations and continued to operate both until World War Two. Apparently at one time accommodation was required for ten men at the Dumbarnie Station. The 1912 map below hints at some small bothy type buildings along the shoreline close to Carrick Villa (the house built in 1885 by Andrew Greig Anderson and named after his wife, Mary Carrick). 

Above is a painting from 1896 by John Lennie, named 'Landing the Salmon Nets, Largo Bay', which features the east end of the bay. This painting is exhibited at the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther. The George Whitton Johnstone painting below, dated 1893 and inscribed 'Largo, Fife', depicts a similar location and shows nets being tended to in the foreground. The buildings of Lower Largo can be seen in the centre background.

At low tide, the stumps of the stake net structure can still be seen in this vicinity, as the recently taken photograph below illustrates.

As the series of posts on salmon fishing concludes, let's meet some of Largo's salmon fishers. Some appeared on the above circa 1900 postcard image which was entitled 'Salmon fishers landing the nets, Largo Bay'. ​Below is a photograph from the book 'Seatoun of Largo' by Ivy Jardine. It shows the salmon fishermen of Largo circa 1890, complete with their names. These are just a few of the faces behind what was once a significant part of local life and of the physical landscape of the bay. Although now at an end, salmon fishing remains an important part of the area's heritage. If you know more about Largo's salmon fishing days, please comment or get in touch via the 'contact' option.

Earlier blog posts have covered the Lundin Salmon Fishing Station and the Strathairly Salmon Fishing Station. For much of the nineteenth century there were three salmon stations along the stretch of Largo Bay that fell within Largo Parish. The third Largo station was known as Largo Salmon Fishing Station and was situated between the other two, east of the pier, close to the area depicted in the painting above by James MacMaster RSW RBA (1856-1913). The artwork shows Lower Largo of old, prior to the building of "Edina View",  "Rock View" and "Beach House" on the site of these traditional pantiled buildings. In fact, the developer of the site circa 1890 was also the tenant of the Largo salmon station, Andrew Selkirk, whose father Alexander had the salmon fishing lease before him.

Above is an extract from the 1865 valuation roll showing Alexander Selkirk, salmon fisher, as leasing the salmon fishings from then Largo estate owner Mrs Durham. Mr Selkirk was also innkeeper at what would become the Crusoe Hotel. When he died in 1867, his son Andrew, took over the tenancy of the Largo fishings. He held onto this fishing station for decades, even when the surrounding stations were taken on by powerful outside interests in the form of Andrew Greig Anderson of Edinburgh and Joseph Johnston and Sons of Montrose. In 1887, the "largest salmon on record, as far as Largo Bay is concerned" was caught in one of Andrew Selkirk's nets. It weighed 58 lbs, was 4 feet and 4 inches in length and 2 feet 4 inches in girth (see 2 July 1887 Fife News piece below).
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Largo-born artist Alexander Ballingall painted "Fixing the Nets", a the close-up view of the salmon nets being tended, around this time. This piece gives a valuable insight to the detail of the stake nets and also to the appearance of the salmon fishermen, including a hint of the colour of their clothing, which is always absent from black and white photographs.
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​The report above from 3 September 1903 Leven Advertiser tells of an remunerative year for the salmon fishing in the Forth, with some heavy takes recorded at the local stations. ​In the spring of 1907, the lease of the Largo Salmon Fishings finally left the hands of the Selkirk family, after more than sixty years, when local joiner and contractor Walter Horne took it over (see 22 April 1907 Dundee Courier below). Horne already had the lease of the neighbouring Strathairly Station. Andrew Selkirk died two years later. Horne continued to lease the Largo fishing station until circa 1940, in partnership with Alexander Simpson and later with David Gillies. Walter Horne died in 1941 aged 77.

Evidence of the Largo salmon fishing can still be seen at a very low tide. The comparison images above show a salmon trap in the bay and the remains of the stumps to which the ropes were attached to keep the nets taught. This construction - akin to pitching a tent - made the stake nets sturdier against the wind and the waves. The model below shows a similar arrangement. In the next post, the series on salmon fishing will conclude with a brief look at nearby fishing stations in Largo Bay, within the neighbouring parishes of Scoonie and Newburn.
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